A gas turbine engine generally includes, in serial flow order, a compressor section, a combustion section, and a turbine section. In operation, air is provided from an inlet of the compressor section, where one or more axial compressors progressively compress the air until it reaches the combustion section. Fuel is mixed with the compressed air and burned within the combustion section to provide combustion gases. The combustion gases are routed from the combustion section to the turbine section. The flow of combustion gasses through the turbine section drives the turbine section.
In particular configurations, the turbine section is mechanically coupled to the compressor section by a shaft extending along an axial direction of the gas turbine engine. Further, in certain aeroderivative gas turbine engines, the shaft is mechanically coupled to a load, such as a propeller in marine aeroderivative gas turbine engines, through a gear box.
Accordingly, in marine aeroderivative gas turbine engines a propeller speed may be controlled by a speed of the shaft, which may in turn be controlled by an amount of fuel provided to the combustion section. A fuel metering valve may be provided to control an amount of fuel provided to the combustion section. Thus, a propeller speed may be controlled by the fuel metering valve. In certain gas turbine engines, the fuel metering valve operates on a proportional and integral control loop. With such a configuration, an error value between a desired position of the fuel metering valve and an actual position of the fuel metering valve is used to determine a proportional gain and an integral gain, which are then summed to determine a null current value. The null current value sets a position of the fuel metering valve.
However, the inventors of the present disclosure have found that such a configuration may lead to, e.g., long startup times of the gas turbine engine and variations or fluctuations in the null current value. Accordingly, a method for controlling a position actuation system component, such as a fuel metering valve, within a gas turbine engine to decrease the startup time of the gas turbine engine would be useful. Moreover, a method for controlling a position actuation system component, such as a fuel metering valve, within a gas turbine engine to achieve more consistent null current values for the position actuation system component would be particularly beneficial.